1. SETTING THE FOUNDATION- In discussions with my campus supervisor/administrator, student achievement of junior high male athletes declining during the off-season is noted as a major concern for the school’s overall academic strive for perfection. Teachers/staff, coaches, parents, SBDM committee, and curriculum director will be part of a team that discusses this issue, which was identifies as a major concern for the upcoming school year.
2. ANALYZING DATA- Reviewing the performance issues of these students in the passed concerning daily grades, homework grades, discipline issues, benchmark tests, TAKS test, and other data gathered during and after the sport season will allow comparison and data valuable in this research area. Also, gathering and analyzing the data on the current students active in sports now, and continuous monitoring of their achievement during the off-season will ensure positive data gathering that will be beneficial in this study. Articles, books, and journals published that correlate with student athlete success/failure during and after the season will also be used to gather information that will help develop strategies and recommendations for minimizing or eliminating decreases in student athlete’s academic production.
3. DEVELPING DEEPER UNDERSTANDING- Collaboration with teachers/staff, coaches, parents, and students for deeper understandings and conflict issues will help provide better insight to the issues at hand. Teachers and staff will notify any issues and concerns about students, through constant observations in the classroom during and after the sport season. Coaches will ensure that student athletes are motivated to “keep up” during and after the season. The parents will provide “out of school” information that is vital in ensuring that the strategies and methods chosen are working everywhere and not just at school. Also, collaboration with the students will provide a deep understanding into where the possible decline or stability comes from. Communication with all types of student athletes will allow the identification of positive and negative trends, which will help ensure a deeper understanding within the research project.
4. ENGAGE IN SELF-REFLECTION- Self reflection for all parties involved in the action research study is necessary in order to be successful. Questions that every individual must ask and answer honestly include:
• Am I fully engaged in this action research project?
• Am I taking the time to research and develop the best possible strategies?
• Am I willing to do whatever it takes to ensure student success?
• Is training needed/available to all teachers/staff to provide these strategies?
• Are all my resources available that are needed to make this research possible?
• Did I gather all the needed data, and analyze it appropriately?
• Am I communicating with all necessary parties involved to ensure success?
5. EXPLORING PROGRAMMATIC PATTERNS- In exploring the patterns in student athlete’s decline during the off-season, the research must identify the causing factors for the problem. Are we as an organization “easing up during the off-season?” When students stop trying after their sport is over, they have simply given up or quite caring. Identifying the patterns causing this decline in student achievement is extremely important to solving the issue at hand. Identifying these patterns will help establish solutions and methods to avoid the decline in the first place. Patterns that lead to the decline in student achievement must be studied, and solutions decided that will veer away from allowing the decline to begin in the first place. Communication and collaboration with all parities will allow the identification of these patterns, and therefore lead to the stoppage of the decline through strategies.
6. DETERMINING DIRECTION- The direction of the action research is going to be aimed at solving the decline of student achievement in junior high male athletes during the off-season. In order to this, everyone involved must be on the “same page” and headed in the right direction. Providing the overall goal for the action research, and ensuring that everyone involved understands and “buys in” to the process needed to reach this goal is necessary. Gathering all the needed data, constant collaboration between all parties, ensuring the overall goal is known by all, and continuous reach for the goal will ensure a consistent and correct direction of the research project.
7. TAKING ACTION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT- Organizing a team, working together collaboratively, and ensuring that the action research plan is based on solving issues that directly relate to the school’s mission statement and overall goal is necessary for ensuring school improvement. A discussion with the site supervisor/campus administrator, teachers/staff on campus, and coaches, minimizing or eliminating the decline of student achievement in the off-season is a high priority. Because so many student athletes allow decline in their achievement during the off-season, this action research is unquestionably aimed at school improvement. When the action research is over, the school campus morale should be extremely high, student success will be at a level desired by the teachers/parents, and the overall school district will have ensured a positive outcome. Student’s grades and behavior should improve, and the campus’s scores on benchmark tests, TAKS test, and the overall rating of the school district will improve.
8. SUSTAIN IMPROVEMENT- Providing training to all teachers/staff, coaches, and other members of the community is needed to ensure this goal is met, but also maintained. New members of the school community must be trained and notified of the overall goals of the district, and students must be aware that the decline in the off-season will not be tolerated by anyone involved. Constant collaboration between the school, parents, coaches, and teachers is necessary to ensure that the expectations for consistent student achievement is acknowledged, and the standards are never lowered. Letting it be known to everyone involved that the district will work to ensure that the goals are met through any means necessary, and that working together to reach these goals is a needed factor. Constant updating of methods and strategies to ensure best practices will be conducted in the trainings on campus. Also, constant self-reflection and examining of the programs success will be made to achieve constant progress and success.
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Mitchell
ReplyDeleteIt is clear that you have spent some time thinking through this process. Here are a few thoughts that popped into my head as I read your outline.
A key to the success of your program will be showing teacher that the strategies used to help student athletes succeed will be beneficial for the entire student body. From my experience in the classroom (and I think it could be supported through data) failure rates increase as the year progresses. Therefore strategies developed and implemented for a segment of the population can be used to benefit the entire student body.
you may have it listed else where but in this outline there is no set timeline for the investigation and implementation of the program.
I hope this helps some. If I think of anything else I will add it. If you get a chance I would appreciate if you took a look at my outline.
http://noahnewton.blogspot.com/
Wow! Your action plan seems very complete. One of the pieces I would add is to interview those athletes who keep performing, even during the off season, and find out what keeps them motivated. It may be that the only motivation some stduents have is athletics, but those who keep working have an additional source of motivation....maybe their parents, future goals, other clubs and organizations at the school. Hope this helps.
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